A secretive team within Apple's growing health unit has been in talks with developers, hospitals and other industry groups about bringing clinical data, such as detailed lab results and allergy lists. The Cupertino-headquartered tech giant is also scouting for start-ups in the cloud hosting space that might fit into this plan.
If Apple's efforts show the desired results, both the medical community and users would have reasons to cheer. Patients often find it difficult to share their information between doctors, especially among different hospitals or clinics, even in this digital age.
The lack of data-sharing between health providers can often lead to unnecessary mistakes and missed diagnoses.
Apple in recent months has been in touch with health IT industry groups that are looking for ways to make this goal a reality.
The company has also hired some of the top developers involved with Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources or FHIR, which is an increasingly popular protocol for exchanging electronic health records.
